Family weekend

We had our granddaughter in Toronto for the weekend. She had a short visit with her dad on Saturday afternoon, but he had forgotten it was her weekend and was hosting a party that evening and working on Sunday. Work is good.

On Saturday evening we picked up a possible Hallowe’en outfit for her at Value Village, a for-profit thrift store that stocks new and used costumes for Hallowe’en. On Sunday we went back to Value Village for a very nice charcoal-grey satin formal that was just a little big for her but should be perfect about the time she graduates from elementary school.

On Sunday morning LotStreetWiz headed out for an 8-hour bike ride with only two protein bars in his pocket. If biking burns off a few hundred calories per hour, you have to eat more than that to stay caught up! Eating enough to stay fuelled is one of the challenges of the longer triathlons. After dropping off our grand-daughter, I drove on and picked him up in Niagara Falls, rather cold and tired but triumphant at riding 100 miles.

Biking Saturday

Today we had a fun ride. LotStreetWiz, AtheticKid, SilentLight, and I all biked down to the Leslie Street Spit, around the outer road (three times for L & A), and back again. We put in about 17 miles plus a few extra for our athletes. We took the Don Trail both ways to find a gentler slope. I generally brought up the rear. At the entrance to the park SilentLight and I hung back to have something to eat. I felt more energetic after that.

The Spit had a community event with nature lookout points and bird boxes for swallows or perhaps bluebirds. Apparently it was part of Doors Open Toronto. At our turnaround point, just before the road turns to gravel, there was a display including some bird skins, so we were able to compare herring gulls, ring-billed gulls (a little smaller), and common terns (a lot smaller). We learned that a pair of great egrets are nesting, or at least hanging around, past our turnaround. That was about our only stop as the emphasis was on letting AthleticKid get in some training time.

still, we saw a lot of birds: cormorants, Canada Geese, gulls, terns, swallows–barn swallows?–and lots of smaller ones. We heard a lot of robins. The red-winged blackbirds are everywhere.

The beaver lodge in the big pond is higher and we saw freshly gnawed and felled trees back by the park entrance. So either there are two beavers with different territories or one wandering animal.

Swim practice, March 23

Swim workout with Lizbot and LotStreetWiz, in 25-metre pool at the St. Lawrence Community Centre, overseen by Coach Kelvin of Oannes Swims, about 75 minutes:

• (75 m breast stroke +75  m freestyle) x 3 = 450
• (50 m flutter kick + 50 m arms only) x 4 = 400
• (50 m breast stroke +50 m freestyle) x 6 = 600
• 100 m freestyle = 100

Total, 1550 m.

Busy day

more funny cats

This was a day for errands: physical exam, blood test, buy cold medicines for LotStreetWiz. Home, make lunch; short break. Off to Pilates. On way home, shop for groceries; then buy more cold medicine.

Fair warning

Never piss off a mother.

see funny pictures

Vacations

more funny animals

We’ve been planning our vacation for next year. Plan A was ‘way too expensive, so we’re paring back to just the two of us.

Odds and ends

It has turned very cold here, but the snow tires are on the car and the pantry shelves are full of food. I did a little laundry and some cleaning. LotStreetWiz came home from Vancouver today and we went out for dinner to celebrate.

Kids’ triathlon

I finally uploaded the videos of our granddaughter in the Orillia Kids of Steel triathlon.

Andie-tri-start, originally uploaded by monado.

The swim was 300 yards: three times around the short course.

The first one, the swim start, is the longest video at ninety seconds. The others are under twenty seconds: one of the 5-km bike race and one of the running finish.

Andie-tri-bike, originally uploaded by monado.

Andie-tri-finish, originally uploaded by monado.

Wetsuit practice

Three of us took our wetsuits to the pool today, put them on, and swam in them. Andie looked very efficient and athletic, but she should probably get another suit with a little room for growth.

The session was partly to learn how to put the DeSoto suits on efficiently, partly to check the fit, and partly to practice swimming in them. My wetsuit is too tight: it took me about 40 minutes to put it on, and that was with getting into the water and trying to get some water between me and it. I don’t know if it was the wetsuit technology or my iron supplements, but I was consistently faster than usual.

Coach Kelvin supervised and gave us some easy workouts. Distance, about 500 yards.

Coach Kelvin

Citizens of the world

MSNBC has a nice article on taking your children travelling if you can afford it. They’ll grow up more adventurous and more accepting of different customs. Of course, if they can’t afford it they might be discontent. See “How to raise a globe-trotter.”

“Even by taking one trip abroad each year, parents can instill in their children an appreciation for languages, food, history and cultural traditions.”